Lawsuit Filed Challenging Texas Voter Suppression Law
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A lawsuit was filed today challenging a new Texas voter suppression law, Senate Bill 1111, that imposes strict residency requirements for eligible voters. The bill was signed into law last Wednesday by Gov. Greg Abbott (R). The complaint, filed on behalf of Texas State League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and Voto Latino, alleges that the new law violates the First, 14th and 26th Amendments by imposing vague and confusing restrictions on the voter registration process and burdening young and minority voters’ ability to cast ballots.
Among other provisions, S.B. 1111 prohibits establishing residence “for the purpose of influencing the outcome of a certain election,” restricts individuals from registering to vote using any address where they do not live full time and adds strict voter identification requirements for voters who use P.O. box addresses to register to vote. The complaint argues that these arbitrary new barriers will restrict ballot access for voters who move around a lot, students who may have temporarily moved away from home to attend school and homeless voters who often utilize the P.O. boxes of churches and other organizations to register to vote. These restrictions, the plaintiffs argue, are likely to disproportionately burden young, minority and first-time voters in a state that has historically low electoral participation.